Chair



June 16, 1953 R. P; FRICK 4 2,642,121

. CHAIR Filed March 11, 1949 IN V EN TOR.

wag/(@722 Patented June 16, 1953 CHAIR Robert P. Frick, Palisades, Calif., assignor of onehalf to George F. Smyth, Inglewood, Calif.

Application March 11, 1949, Serial No. 80,908

This invention relates to chairs, and more particularly to a chair especially adapted for use by a growing child.

The chair of the present invention is especially adapted for use by a child who has developed beyond the conventional high-chair but who is yet not large enough to use a conventional chair. There have been previously proposed so-called "youth chairs which were nothing more than a conventional chair formed with longer legs to support th seat member of the chair a greater distance from the floor than a conventional chair. Although this chair during a stage of his growth would support the child at a height which permitted him to eat at a conventional table, it was not comfortable to the child, for the reason that there was not adequate support for his legs. Although some of these so-called youth chairs were supplied with foot rests, there was actually only a short period in which the foot rests were spaced such a distance from the seat as to com-' fortably support the legs of the child.

6 Claims. (Cl. 15588) In the chair of the present invention, not only is the seat adjustable so that the child can be comfortably supported at lessening distances from the floor as he grows, but the distance between the seat member and the foot rest is also adjustable so that as the child grows and is more comfortably seated at lesser distances from .the floor his lengthening legs can be more comfort members of the floor-engaging element is formed with a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings diametrically formed in the wall thereof. I The tubular elements to be telescopically received in the upstanding tubular elements are also formed with aplurality of longitudinally spaced diametrically opposed apertures. of the upstanding tubular members are aligned with the apertures of the downwardly extending tubular members means passed therethrough will 7 hold the members against relative movement and the seat some preselected distance from the floor. These means in the now preferred embodiment of the invention are carried by the foot rest to simplify adjustment of the seat and the foot rest. As the space between the diametrically opposed apertures of the one set of members is different than thatbetween the other apertures the telescoping portions canbe so adjusted that the seat can be-lowered onedistance and the foot rest a greater distance to bring about the desired adjustment.

Indicia means carried by the downwardly extending tubular members facilitate alignment of the apertures, for the spaced apertures of these members are so located that as the indicia moves into registry with the upper end of the upwardly 7 extending members, predetermined apertures of ably supported by the foot rest as the distance 1 between the same and the seat is increased. Thus in the chair of the present invention, as the distance between the floor and the seat is decreased the distance between the seat and the foot rest is increased. These adjustments therefore make it possible for the child to be comfortably seated in the chairthroughout the entire period of his development, beginning at the time he outgrows his high-chair and continuing until he is large enough to use a conventional chair.

To simplify the adjustment of the seat and foot rest, the means for holding the foot rest to the chair frame is also used to hold the seat in the desired position of adjustment relative to the floor. vention the chair frame is formed of two lengths of tubular material bent into the. desired shape.

In the illustrated embodiment of the in-,

the telescopic members will be aligned. Thus there is no difiiculty in changing the relative pos'itions of the telescopic members and no need to fish for the apertures in an effort to move preselected ones into registry.

In one form of the invention illustrated the means to be mounted in the aligned apertures consist of threaded pins fixedly carried by the foot rest adapted to receive wing nuts or the like to hold the telescopic members in the desired position of adjustment. In another form of the invention illustrated this means comprises a spring pressed pin mounted to the foot rest and normally urged to a position engaging the aligned The floor-engaging portion of the chair frame is 5 formed into a U-shaped pedal element presenting a pair of upstanding open-ended tubular sections telescopically receiving a matching pair of downwardly extending tubular elements carried by the frame member to which the seat and back rest are mounted. Each of the upstanding tubular apertures formed in the telescopic members but yet which can be moved outwardly to permit the telescopic members to be moved relative to each other.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the'following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the one embodiment of the chair of the present invention,

the several adjustments of the seat member being shown in broken lines;

When the apertures Figure 2 is a rear view of the chair of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view partly in section and partly in elevation, showing one form of the means used to hold the telescopic members in a desired adjustment; and

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing a modified form of the holding means.

The chair of the present invention, referring now to the embodiment shown in Figures 1 through 3, comprises a frame member it formed in two sections H and [2. The frame section II comprises a tubular member bent into the form shown and presenting a substantially U- shaped base element it having a pair ofopenended tubular elements It angularly extending upwardly therefrom. The frame section l2. also. comprises a single tubular member bent into the form shown to provide a pair of tubular elements l5 angularly extending downwardly from. a. seat-supporting member l5 integrally formed witha backrest supporting member ll. A seat member [3 of any, desired construction is secured to the member It by conventional means suchas bolts, screws, or the like.

A back rest member is is secured between thevertical railmembers of. the back rest supporting element 11. This back rest member may beformed of:any material desired and is rigidly supportedin. place by any conventional means desired.

The upwardly extending tubular elements It.

are provided with'a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings 2|, 22 and23. The downwardly extending tubular elements l5 are. also formed with spaced openings 24, 25 and 26 diametrically'formed through thewall thereof. It will be-seen, referring now to Figure 1, that when the'apertures. 23 are aligned with the apertures 26. the seat member 18 will be held in. an elevated positionabovethe floor-engaging member l4 and that the seat member will be depressed if the telescoping members are adjusted to bring the ap ertures;22 into alignment or registry with the apertures 25. The seat member will be even further depressed if the apertures 2! are brought into registry with the. apertures 24.

Although. any means desired may be used to. hold the telescoping members ina desired .po-

sition of adjustment, inthe now preferred em-. bodiment of the invention the. means. used to. hold. the foot rest. bar 2]. to the chair. is also. employed to hold the. telescoping members.

against relative movement. In the. form of the invention illustrated in Figure. 3, thefoot rest.

ban 2'! comprises a. tubular member, the. opposite; ends. of which are.plugged or. capped by aplug 28 which maybe merely force-fitted into the-boreofthe foot. rest bar 21. This foot. rest bar 21, in. the form of the invention now described, is heldto the telescoping frame members by means of a bolt 29 passed through aligned apertures formed in the foot rest bar 21" aswell as the aligned apertures in the tele scoping members It and I5. The bolt 29 is of alength suflicient to pass through the'foot rest bar 2'! and the telescoping members to take atits inner end a conventional wing nut'3fl which when; tightened clamps the foot' rest bar. 21 against thetelescoping members. It is also obvious that the bolt 29 passed through the aligned apertures of the-telescoping members l4 and I5 will also hold these members against relative movement.

The chair in the position of adjustment. in.

which apertures 23. and 25 are aligned provides a chair most suitable for a child who has just reached a stage of his development in which he has outgrown a conventional high-chair. This is so, for the seat member [8 of the chair is now at a level slightly less than the seat level of a conventional high-chair and the foot rest bar 2i is spaced from the seatmember l8 at a distance which will comfortably allow the child to rest his feet thereon.

After the child has outgrown the just described position of adjustment of the chair of the present invention, the wing nuts 38 may be removed from the studs 2% to allow the telescoping members hi and 55 to be moved into a position in which the apertures 22 and 25 of themembers Hand 55 respectively are brought into registry, after which the studs 29 are inserted through the aligned apertures and the Wing nuts 39 again tightened to hold the telescozpingmembers. against movement. It will be seen-that in this position of adjustment the seat member 18 has been lowered and that the foot rest bar 2? has also been lowered, by an amount greater. than the amount of depression of the seat member I8. The lowered foot rest bar 21,

as it is now. spaced from the seat member a and the telescoping members 14 and it moved into a positionin which apertures 2| and 24 are brought. into registry. With the. telescoping members held in. this position the foot rest bar can be again mounted to the chair, the wing nuts 35 tightened tohold the. foot rest bar 21 to the chair, and the telescoping members M and l5 against.relativemovement. In this position of the chairtheseatmember It has again beenlowered-by one. amount and the foot rest bar 2'5 by a greater amount. The seat member [8 inthis position of adjustment is supported at an elevation above" the floor just. slightly in.

excess. of the elevation of..a conventional chair.

To convert. the. chair toone. having a seat member. supported the. conventionaL distance above. the door, the telescoping members can be adjusted to. aposition in. whichthe apertures 23 arealignedwiththe. apertures 31. formed in.

the. downward. extending members. l5 and the foot. rest. bar. in. this adjustment. of the chair.

serves. notas. a. foot restbut merely as a reinforcing member. to prevent spreading of. the. telescoping members.

To facilitate adjustment. ofthe chair the. one.- downwardextending member I5 is formed with indicia 32 which. cooperates withthe upper edge of one of.the.members [4 which forms an index member to. locate the apertures of the member 15 relative-to. the. apertures of the member. M. For instance, whenthe lowermost indicia 32. is

aligned with. the index member formed by the.-

top edge of. theonemember i4, apertures 23 and 26.. arein alignment. Whenthe-intermediate or.

middle. indicium. 3.2 is. moved down. and is in registry with. the index means: formed by the upper edge. oiv the member. M, the aperture 22 and 25. are in alignmentand when the uppermost indicium. 32 is. in registry with the index meansiormed by. thetop edge, aperture 2| and 24 are. in alignment.

'I'h'e indicium '32 thus eliminates any difiiculty which might be'had'in moving the telescoping members into relative positions of adjustment in which the desired apertures are aligned. Thus there is no necessity to fish for the apertures in an effort to bring desired apertures'intc alignment and the adjustment of the chair is a relatively simple one. I

There is shown in Figure 4a modified form of the foot' rest bar, for inthis form of the bar the'opposite ends thereof are flattened as shown at 33 and formed into a substantially cylindrical end element which receives the tubular members I4 of the chair frame. The end portions are each provided with a small housing 34 concealing a' coiled spring 35 sleeving a headed plunger 36. The spring 'seats on the transverse end closing wall of the housing and acts against a transverse pin 3! carried by the: plunger. It will thus be seen that the'spring will normally tend to urge the plunger 36 to the position shown in Figure 4 in which it has passed'through alignedapertures formed in the telescoping members I4 and I5 similar to the telescoping elements I l and I5 of the previously described form of the invention. In the adjustment of this form of the foot rest bar it is merely necessary to grasp the head of the plunger-.36 and pull the same outward, compressing the spring and freeing the inner end of the plunger from the aligned apertures of the telescoping members. 7 With the plunger in this position the telescoping members can be moved to any other of the desired positions of adjustment and as the plunger is free of the aligned openings the foot rest bar can be moved relative to the outer member'l i to its new position relative thereto. In this form of the chair it will be seen that it is not necessary to separate any of the elements of the chair to bring about an adjustment of the seat member and foot rest barso that there is no danger of an element being removed by a child and lost or misplaced.

Although the present invention has been shown herein as embodied in a tubular frame chair of the particular type illustrated, it should be understood that the advantages of the present invention can be still realized if the invention is embodied in other forms of chairs.

The chair has been described hereinabove as one to be used by a growing child, but it can be pointed out that the chair may also be used by an adult, particularly a housewife, as a stool for work before a sink, ironing board, or any other use wherein a higher chair than usual can be conveniently used. In this use of the chair the telescoping members would be moved to bring apertures 22 and 24 into alignment, after which the stud 29 or the pin 35, depending upon which form of chair was being used, would be passed through the aligned apertures to hold the telescoping members against relative movement. In this position of adjustment of the chair the seat member I8 is elevated above the floor at such a distance that the chair forms a conventional height stool. The foot rest bar, as should be obvious, will be positioned a relatively great distance from the seat member to accommodate the longer legs of the adult using the stool.

Although the now preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described herein, it is to be understood that the invention need not be limited thereto, for it is susceptible to changes in form and detail within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1 1. A chair for use by a growing child comprising: a'floor-engaging frame element; a seatsupporting frame element; aseat fixed to said for securing said foot rest member to said frame elements a preselected distance from said seat,

whereby as the child grows the distance between the seat and the floor can be decreased and the distance between the seat and the foot rest increased.

2. A chair for use by a growing child comprising: a floor-engaging frame element; a seatsupporting frame element; a seat fixed to Said last named element; means for connecting said seat-supporting frame element to said floor-engaging element for vertical movement whereby said seat-supporting element can be moved'to vary the distance between said seat and the floor a foot rest member; and means carried by said foot rest member to be removably engaged with said frame elements for holding said seat-sup porting frame element in a preselected position of adjustment relative to said floor-engaging element to position said seat a preselected'distance above the floor and for securing said foot rest member to said frame elements a preselected distance below'said seat, whereby as the child grows the distance between the seat and the floor can be decreased and the distance between the seat' and the foot rest increased.

3. A chair for use by a growing child, comprising: a pedal frame element adapted to be supported on the floor; an upper frame element; a seat fixed to said last named frame element; a back rest carried by said upper frame element; means for connecting said upper element to said pedal element for vertical movement relative thereto whereby said upper element can be moved to vary the distance of the seat above the floor; a foot rest member; and means carried by said foot rest member cooperable with a selected one of a plurality of spaced means on said pedal frame element and a selected one of a plurality of spaced means on said upper frame member for holding said frame elements in a preselected position of adjustment to fix said seat a preselected distance from the floor and for securing the foot rest member to said pedal frame element a preselected distance from said seat, whereby as the child grows the distance between the seat and the floor can be decreased and the distance between the seat and the foot rest increased.

7' pedal frame element to vary the distance; between the seat. and'the floor; a foot rest.member; and means carried by said foot rest member for securing said foot rest member to the upwardly extendingtubular members a preselected receivedwithin said upwardly extending tubular? member; said upwardly extending member having, a plurality of spaced apertures therethrough; afootrestmember; and means carried by said foot rest member for reception within a'selected aperture for mounting said foot rest member to said tubular member a preselected distance above the floor, the tubular member depending from said upperframe element having a plurality of spaced apertures therethrough, a. selected one of said last named apertures being registerable with a selected aperture of said upwardly extending member andlreceiving the means carried by said foot rest member whereby said telescoping elements are held against relative movement to fix the seat a predetermined distance above said foot rest mem her.

6. A chair for use by a growing child, comprising: a floor-engaging frame element comprising a single, length of a tubular element at least one tubular member prising ais-ingle length-1. otitubular. element bent to form a. vertically, extending. substantially Ui-shaped baclr rest supporting member andv a. pair of horizontally extending rail-.membersv for supporting a seat member terminating in. a

pair of downwardly extending parallel tubular members telescopically received'within the tubular members extending upwardly from said floor-engaging pedal element; a seat connected between said. rail members; a foot rest member; pin means carried at the opposite ends of said foot rest member for reception. in preselected aligned apertures-of a plurality of longitudinally spaced apertures formed inv said telescoping tubular members for securing said foot rest member to said upwardly extending tubular members a preselected distance above the floor and for holding said telescoping members against relative movement to fix said seat a preselecteddistance above said foot rest member;

and means for holdingthe pin, means against accidental movement to retainsaid frame elements and foot rest member in a preselected relative position of adjustment.

ROBERT P. FRICK.

References Cited in the file: of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 60,699 Cumming Janrl, 1867 418,938 Bogusch Jan. '7, 1890 1,016,763 Nill -4. Feb. 6, 1912 1,713,034. Denson May 14, 1929 1,964,216 Sargent .June 26, 1934 2,514,524. Steele .July 11, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 592,285 Great Britain Sept. 12, 1947 598,335 Great Britain .Feb. 16, 1948' 

